McDonald grades Raiders performance against Giants

Here is how beat writer Jerry McDonald graded the Raiders based off their performance against the New York Giants on Sunday in a 24-20 loss:

Passing offense: Other than a 23-yard hookup from Terrelle Pryor to Denarius Moore on a third-down play that wound up only leading to a field goal, it was a lot of nothing. Moore dropped at least two passes. Pryor was off-target (11 of 26, 122 yards) and threw an interception that was returned 65 yards by Terrell Thomas that swung the game in favor of the Giants for good. Starting wideout Rod Streater caught one pass for six yards.

Grade: F

New York Giants wide receiver Rueben Randle, left, catches a touchdown pass as Oakland Raiders cornerback Mike Jenkins (21) defends on the play during the first half of an NFL football game on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013, in East Rutherford, N.J. ((AP Photo/Bill Kostroun))

Rushing offense: Rashad Jennings finished with 20 carries for 88 yards and had 9 carries for 55 yards in the first half. The only other ballcarrier was Pryor, who was hobbled with a right MCL sprain and carried five times for a season-low 19 yards. Jennings ran hard and well for the second straight week and deserves more carries even when Darren McFadden returns. The Raiders ran pretty well against a defense that had been stout against the run.

Grade: B

Pass defense: Whether it was the swirling wind or the swirling defenders occasionally at his feet, Eli Maning was 11 of 22 for 140 yards and one touchdown, a perfectly thrown 5-yard pass to Reuben Randle, who was actually covered pretty well by Mike Jenkins. Safety Usama Young, barely used against Philadelphia, had a sack and breakup. Tracy Porter became the first player to pick off both Manning brothers and take it to the house with a 43-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Grade: B

Rush defense: Andre Brown, in his first game back after a broken leg, rushed 30 times for 115 yards. New York rushed for 133 yards overall but needed 38 carries to get them. Brown seemed to get a lot of yards after first contact. The Giants didn’t exactly shred the Raiders but did manage eight rushing first downs.

Grade: B-minus

Special teams: Taiwan Jones, one of the Raiders’ best gunners in years, forced a Jerrel Jernigan fumble and then recovered it on the opening kickoff, setting up the Raiders first touchdown. The Raiders regrettably gave it back a short time later when an unblocked middle resulted in blocked punt and a Giants touchdown from Cooper Taylor. Jones was explosive on his two kickoff returns with a 38.5 average. The Raiders had a partially blocked punt as well. Blocked punt for touchdown spoils what could have been a top-line effort.

Grade: C

Coaching: The Raiders were ready to play, got a quick touchdown and effort was not a question. Defensive game plan was sound, but on offense, with Pryor not himself with an MCL sprain, the Raiders seemed to too often outsmart themselves instead of putting the game in the hands of Jennings. Hindsight says run the ball on second-and-goal from the 1 instead of failed play-action. Also left out was Marcel Reece, who never carried the ball and looked good when he caught it, particularly on a 16-yard gain on a screen pass.

Grade: C-minus

Steve Corkran

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What? Al didn’t want to pay coaches because he thought they were redundant….he was the coaching staff already, so why pay big money for additional coaches? Mark will be smart enough to know he needs some quality guys coaching…..and these guys are not that.

JOn Wooah

My point is .. he is in the NFL.. and he will go to another team with a great coaching staff like mitchell and take off. My point is.. he far from sucks. U MAD? i’d say u are

JOn Wooah

Hue was our best coach since GRUDEN. Jason Campbell was our best Qb since Gannon. Whens the last time Palmer was player of the week?? cuz Campbell was last week.

MaddenRaider

Palmer is a choker with few (and declining) athletic attributes. Pryor is an upgrade.

Dakota

Not as a QB. Pity he will not switch positions for us. He is dangerous when on the run.

JOn Wooah

Love how the flyn trolls stay mad. Dont get mad about money. Get out and be great at something. Then it wont bother u much.

JOn Wooah

I doubt it. Reggie said he is a Qb period. keep talking in circles though. U are great at it.

Charlie

Dakota.
I think we may go for one FA this offseason that will require a few bucks. One at most.
We will not make the mistakes of the past and go with multiple big FA contracts. Most FA rarely play up to their contracts.
An awful lot of NFL people seem to like Wiz at center versus guard. Not sure if Mack happens because of that.
IMO we will draft an Olineman, Dlineman and WR (not necessarily in that order) with our first three picks and give our QB group another year.
Based upon what I am hearing on this blog Peyton would have been out of the league after one year.
He was 3-13 as a rookie.

JOn Wooah

thats why people rarely vote u up for what u have to say.

MaddenRaider

Hue Jackson finished his only season as Raider head coach at 8-8, same record as Tom Cable in his final season. By the numbers, if he’s the best since Gruden, so is Cable. They’re tied for the “best since Gruden” award, by the numbers. Frankly I’m not comfortable comparing either of them with Gruden.

lefty12

Good QBs throw the ball BEFORE a guy is wide open.Ours waits until they get open,doesn’t see the field,and doesn’t make quick decisions.

JOn Wooah

Dont bring up money with these guys.. they dont want to know who is making what. They get upset when they find out a crappy qb is getting paid about 40,000 a game.

LB32

Man, I hated when he got hurt. He was a best QB over the last 10 years.

disqus_yeZNegncsV

North Caroline didn’t want him so they said on tv–that’s why he chose football over basketball.
My question would be that if he wanted training to be an NFL qb, why the hell did he choose Ohio State?

Dakota

lmao, I tell the truth and people don’t like to hear it in here. That is okay though….better than sounding like you do.

Guest

hurry and type.. im sure u are coming up with something great to say lmao

disqus_yeZNegncsV

He himself pretty much thinks he has stunk it up lately,.

MaddenRaider

The Oakland Raiders spending top dollar on big name GM and/or HC? I’ll believe it when I see it.

Dakota

Give him another 3 years and he will start to get it!

lefty12

When someone said he was 16 they were obviously mistaken.13 tops!!

2romes

The season is at a loss already. Hoped for an easy 8-8 but predicted 5 wins. I said it earlier if Pryor is still hobbling around tomorrow pencil Mc Gloin in and let’s go. Everybody really wants to see what the Raiders are about. Which type of QB fits the Raiders style with this make up. Can the QB on the bench slant the edge towards the Raiders way tomorrow or will we try to find out early next when the games will be meaningful.

fingersrdrs

All the grades are pretty good except the offensive passing grade…. I have to agree… I might grade the offensive play call a little harsher… 3rd and 1 and Pryor rollsout to pass?…
And Jennings has been good allday?…

MaddenRaider

We’re 5-4 if Olson uses high percentage plays in goal line situations instead of gambling. Scroll down to see examples, or I can state them again if you like.

disqus_yeZNegncsV

I don’t have any illusions about McGloin being good with this line, but I also don’t think you need to put TP out there with an injured knee and then risk having him actually tear the thing like RG3 did.
We’re not going to the playoffs. Get TP’s knee well so that he can get back on the field in a week or two to play out the season. That way, he’ll have enough games under his belt, a large enough sample, to accurately judge his progress or lack of it.
A secondary benefit is getting your back up some reps since he will likely be your back up next year as well.

Dakota

Actually Cable was only the token HC in 2010….Al made that clear, he was just keeping Hue’s seat warm. If Hue had not stepped in as OC in 2010 Cable never would have sniffed 8-8. Cable was a dog schyyyt HC. Hue was a little bit better.

Charlie

Money will be a problem till next year when we have cleaned all the garbage from the prior regime.
That is why DA and Reggie get four years.
This was a pile of crap when Reggie took over.
No money and no picks and a roster that are almost all out of the league or back ups today. Toxic combination.

LB32

Our WRs aren’t getting wide open that often. The QB and WR have to be on the same page and read the same thing. That’s not happening consistently enough.

JOn Wooah

John
Middlekauff ‏@JohnMiddlekauff
27 Oct

Said it before, there will not be a QB in the 2014 draft w/ as much upside as Pryor.

Followed by Jim
Trotter

————–

was just on 95.7 the game a litte while ago. I know its gonna make some “raider” fans mad lol

disqus_yeZNegncsV

Funny, because Romo and Neal say TP is really a good passer in practice. Know what? I don’t believe any of them, not because I think they are lying but because they aren’t coaches and don’t know what the hell they’re watching, don’t know what to look for. You can complete a pass in practice that looks good, yet you can complete it late. Unless these guys have stop watches in their heads, they’d not know that. You can also not complete a pass in practice and it’s not your fault but the receivers for not running the route properly.
Disregard what these guys say.

Dakota

Why are you talking about rookies? Our rookie QBs are Wilson and McWhatever his name is. Pryor is in his third NFL season. Do you think if Manning had sat and watched for 2 seasons and then started like Pryor that he would have struggled like this? It is a bad analogy sir.

2romes

Cable and Hue, I liked them both. I don’t mind them both splitting the tab.

fingersrdrs

Charlie….Peytons rookie records isnt an indication of Peyton as much as it is on The colts…. And Peyton was never a running Qb…. Throwing the ball was never Peytons problems….surely you arent comparing style of play are you?…

MaddenRaider

Well, that’s interesting. However, the official head coach of the Oakland Raiders in 2010 was Tom Cable. If Al or anyone else wouldn’t have liked it to be remembered that way, then Al should have made Hue Jackson head coach in 2010. As it stands, Cable was head coach. The blame would have gone his way if they’d tanked at 4-12. So he gets the credit for going 8-8.

lefty12

1st and goal on the 1-try and run it in.2nd and goal you do like EVERY team in the league-play action to try and catch the D off guard.3rd and goal at the 1 you can still punch it in but not when your LT false starts and makes it 3rd and 6.Proper play calling-terrible execution,that will cost you games.

http://Raiders.com/ Dan78

Yes Olsen is who a lot of people thought he was when he first was hired…… Crap….. That goal line call and the misuse of Reece through out the season should cost him his job…. Sometimes I feel like they are misusing the players on purpose, but then I think about it and remember our OC is trash…. At the end of the day when you dig in the dumpster you get trash

Purvisman/Eternal Optimist

There’s something to be said about a guy that saves his favorite tweets.

NewEra S&B

With Jennings tearing it up as well as he was? You take a chance regardless.

Charlie

I have said when Reggie took over this is a three to five year rebuild project. No picks in 2012 and a total waste of a badly overpaid roster.

Unless there’s some object of this game other than winning that I’m not aware of…

Charlie

Yes. It really was that bad (See below) We are light years ahead of where we were in January 2012.
It may not feel that way but at least we were not paying clowns like we were below to lose 44-7 the last time we were at NY.
Got to deal with the ugly reality of a compete organization overhaul.
No quick fix. Sorry.

disqus_yeZNegncsV

Wow. Nice job. Pretty much puts things in perspective. How many of those guys were worth their money, based on their production and game-changing abilities? Routt? A wash-upped Seymour? DHB?(ohhhh, Al, why did you always want to prove people wrong so badly you screwed yourself and the fans?)
Curry? ( I thought that one was working, then BOOM). Kelly? (I Play hard when I want to play hard, soft when I want to play soft). RoMac?

lefty12

That was my point.

Raider Al from Atlanta, Ga

The Raiders should have never hired Greg Olston or Greg go take a Knapp. They are terrible play callers.
Al Saunders and Hugh Jackson have and always will be offensive Gurus.

fingersrdrs

Manning was a # 1 pick …meaning the Colts sucked before he got there…Mannings play improved the Colts … This isnt what Pryors doing…please dont compare Pryor to Manning again…. There is no comparing

2romes

For some unexplained reason I don’t want to see Dennis Allen going away with his tail tucked under him. There is this small piece missing that I think he may be about to figure it out. I am talking about sniffing at the playoffs soon, staying around in December with hope, that kind of thing.